35 min: And now it’s Bayern who go close, Lewandowski crossing from the left, Muller ghosting in to flick an outrageous back-header towards the top left. Caballero is beaten, but the ball crashes off the crossbar. Muller tries to do something with the rebound but he’s off balance and Chelsea are able to clear.

34 min: A poor clearance by Neuer is pounced on by Jorginho. The ball’s slipped left to Mount, who fires a ball across the face of goal. Giroud is an inch away from poking home, shades of Gazza at Euro 96. After all that Bayern pressure, it was Chelsea who nearly took the lead.

Olivier Giroud fires a shot across the face of the goal. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

32 min: More last-ditch stuff as Bayern sweep forward through Lewandowski, Muller and Coman. It’s a diagonal left-to-right move that nearly puts Coman through on goal. But just as he shapes to shoot, Alonso pops up to block and usher him out for a goal kick. That’s fine defending.

30 min: Chelsea are beginning to give up half-chances at a worrying rate. Again Lewandowski nearly gets a shot away inside the box; again Caballero is the hero with another on-point interception. Chelsea can’t keep going like this.

29 min: Caballero took a whack making that save, so there’s a brief pause as he receives treatment. He’s good to go again. Bayern’s corner is a waste of time, but Muller is soon coming at Chelsea again down the left, and curls a fierce shot inches wide of the bottom right. Caballero, at full stretch, might have been in trouble had that been on target.

27 min: Another great save by Cabellero, who saves again at Lewandowski’s feet, the big striker having been sent clear down the middle by a clever Muller pass. The ball clanks out for a corner on the left.

26 min: Gnabry slips a cute pass down the inside left to release Lewandowski into the box. Caballero is wise to the plan and is quickly off his line to snaffle at the striker’s feet. That was superb goalkeeping, not least because a mistimed challenge could have led to a penalty kick.

25 min: Muller and Gnabry combine at speed down the left. There are red shirts lurking in the penalty area, so Chelsea are very grateful to Christensen, wide awake this time, and able to hack Gnabry’s cross away from danger.

20 min: Kovacic sends a big diagonal towards James on the right. James whips in low, forcing Alaba to bundle out for a corner, from which Giroud heads weakly into Neuer’s arms. An uncharacteristically powerless header by Giroud, who was looking for the top right but couldn’t get enough purchase. But this is better from Chelsea.

18 min: Finally something for the home faithful to scream about. Kovacic slides a gorgeous pass down the inside right to release Mount. For a second, it looks as though he’ll tear clear towards the box, but Davies recovers his position with lightning speed. Mount is panicked into a miscontrol, and Davies shepherds the ball out for a goal kick. What defending by the 19-year-old wing back.

16 min: Gnabry flicks on the corner, but the ball harmlessly bounces out of play to the right of goal. The home crowd fall quiet again with worry. Bayern are finding their range now, but Chelsea have yet to get going.

15 min: Stamford Bridge has fallen pretty quiet as Bayern dominate. Thiago sprays a long ball down the inside left. Lewandowski romps into the box and tries to power a shot past Caballero. The ball whacks the keeper in the chest and pings out for a corner. That generated a bit of much-needed noise.

13 min: Coman and Muller combine again, this time down the right. Muller pulls a ball back for Pavard, who can’t work room for a cross and is forced to turn tail. Bayern keep hold of possession, though, patiently passing it around the back. They’ve had the lion’s share so far.

11 min: Coman and Muller exchange a one-two in the centre circle, and suddenly Coman is away down the inside-right channel. Simple as that. Chelsea torn apart with ease. Coman should hit the target at the very least, but upon entering the box, only manages to flutter the side netting. A real chance to grab a precious away goal.

Kingsley Coman fires wide when he should have hit the target. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

10 min: Plenty of space for Pavard out on the right. He crosses long with the hope of finding Lewandowski at the far post. Too long. “The Bayern captain should give Azpilicueta the Bayern-Tottenham pennant to establish a marker of intent and set zee bantz rolling,” suggests Ian Copestake.

9 min: Coman goes scampering after a long ball down the right but, with Chelsea a little light at the back, can’t keep it in. Goal kick. Chelsea go up the other end, Mount dribbling in from the right before scuffing a shot wide right. Neither team are quite on it yet.

2 min: Bayern quickly establish a modicum of control. They probe this way and that. Chelsea keep their shape, but Bayern were moving the ball around swiftly enough to cause a couple of murmurs of anxiety in the home crowd.

And we’re off! Bayern get the first half underway. A huge roar, with both sets of plans giving it plenty. Chelsea come straight at the visitors, Kovacic romping down the left before being forced to turn back. Then Bayern go up the other end, Muller attempting to thread a shot into the bottom left from 20 yards. Caballero is behind it all the way. Quite the eventful first 40 seconds!

The teams are out! A fine Champions League atmosphere at Stamford Bridge. A whiff of sulphur in the air, on account of a pre-match rooftop firework display half the stadium wouldn’t have been able to see. Chelsea are in their famous blue, while Bayern sport first-choice red. We’ll be off in a minute!

A pre-match chat with Frank Lampard. “We have to be at our best,” he tells BT Sport. “Our focus from minute one has to be spot on. Our belief in ourselves, and what we can do. And our work ethic. We have to up that level even more. We might be seen as the underdogs, but let’s try to show what we can do. People think managers want to rotate and show how clever we are, but you actually want some continuity so we go again. The players need to have huge focus.”

Chelsea name the same XI sent out to beat Tottenham at the weekend. And there’s only one change on the bench, with Pedro taking Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s seat.

Bayern make four changes to the team that scraped past Paderborn 3-2 in the Bundesliga on Friday evening. Benjamin Pavard, Jerome Boateng, Kingsley Coman and Thomas Muller take the places of Alvaro Odriozola, Lucas Hernandez, Corentin Tolisso and Philippe Coutinho.

Chelsea weren’t the bookies’ favourites that night in Munich. And yet they did it. That bald fact should give Frank Lampard’s team much-needed succour as they go into battle tonight ... and they may need it, because once again Bayern are considered the more likely, for various reasons. Consider: Chelsea haven’t won any of their last eight knockout ties in this competition; they’ve only tasted Champions League victory at Stamford Bridge once in their last six; Bayern won all six of their group matches this season to an aggregate score of 24-5; Robert Lewandowski is this season’s leading Champions League scorer with ten; and the last time in-form Bayern came to town, they whistled seven goals past Spurs. Gulp! (x5)

But here’s more hope for Chelsea: they don’t half enjoy playing teams from Germany. They beat Stuttgart in the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup final, knocked the same team out in the 2004 Champions League round of 16, saw off Eintracht Frankfurt in the semis of last year’s Europa League, put Bayern out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage in 2005, and of course there’s that aforementioned final in 2012. Their only defeat against German opposition in winner-takes-all competition was a defeat on penalties in the 2013 Super Cup. Bayern will have reasons of their own to be extremely wary.

They were also, let us not forget, knocked out at this stage last year by an English team. So can Chelsea do what Liverpool did 12 months ago? Or will Bayern continue on their quest to reach a first final in seven years? After tonight’s action, we’ll be halfway to finding out the answers. It’s on!